Word: tuscan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...designed condominium, evidence of Schrager's master plan to combine hotels with full-time residential properties--at $5 million to $10 million apiece. He is about to announce a 10,000-unit residential, retail and hotel complex in Las Vegas, inspired by the Tivoli Gardens, Central Park and a Tuscan town square. In a softening housing market, the Las Vegas project will be a stern test of Schrager's vision. "Everything Ian does has levels of influence," says Ross Klein, president of W Hotels Worldwide. "He's an innovator, and this balancing of full-time and overnight property is what...
...would pocket a profit before the place was even finished. Schiller, 51, and her husband had already flipped several properties in Florida's sizzling market, and this one sounded sweet: three bedrooms, private elevator, designer appliances. Villa Medici, promised the builder, would be modeled after a "true Italian Tuscan village," featuring Mediterranean façades and a resort-style pool. "As with any 'limited edition,'" the pitch stressed, "demand always exceeds the supply...
...Applebee's' sense of disembodiment, of radical anti-locality, extends throughout its menu. A "Tuscan Shrimp Salad" bears only a notional relationship to Tuscany, where I have never seen the discordant, more-Asian-than-Italian marriage of almonds, shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, and soft lettuce. Were I on Bourbon Street, in New Orleans, and was delivered a steak as bland as the Applebee's "Bourbon Street Steak," I would leave, drink three or four Hurricanes, and call...
...Which brings me to the bar at Applebee's. The only meaningful difference between casual-dining restaurants and fast-food restaurants is that the former serve alcohol. (My Tuscan Shrimp Salad was nearly as fast as anything I could have eaten at McDonald's: it was delivered in under nine minutes.) But I found the Applebee's bar to be a ripoff. When I asked Cory, my bartender, for a margarita, he said proudly, "We have several!" (Everything said by Applebee's employees is uttered with unnecessary volume and transparently coached enthusiasm.) Cory then presented a huge drinks menu that...
...broad appeal to match the choice-saturated American consumer. In the hands of canny CEO Terry Leahy, known for his no-frills style ("The only personality I believe in is Tesco," he once said), Tesco has launched in-house lines of food, ranging from economy pasta to hand-stretched Tuscan pizzas, with something to appeal to the frugal and the foodie. Leahy perfected the art of pulling in customers with Tesco's low-cost reputation and then selling them high-margin nonfood items like TVs and home furnishings. And he has successfully developed both mammoth one-stop stores and more...